PNN’s mission is to engage, educate and empower our neighbors to make our City a better place to live. Here’s what’s coming up in each of these areas:
Engage: Collect Signatures for Candidates, Ask Congress to Support Affordable Housing
Educate: Educational Equity Forum
Empower: Ward 22 Rally for Democracy, Anti-Bribery Rally
It's Petition Time!
January 23rd thru February 13th
Candidates for office are required to collect a threshold of voter signatures to qualify for the Primary Ballot. Below are some opportunities to help collect signatures for candidates we have previously endorsed. Click on their name to get connected:
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Greening Black & Brown Philadelphia
Sunday, February 4th, 2PM-4PM, Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 BF Pkwy
Join our friends at Clean Water Action in this Call-to-Action and celebration of the inspiring leaders driving change in Philadelphia's least served Environmental Justice Communities. The greatest agents of change are and always have been local communities and their leaders.
After welcoming remarks, community organizations will take the stage to present their plans, projects, and stories. The program will also allow participants to address resource providers and other stakeholders directly, providing a platform where community needs and aspirations take precedence.
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Educational Equity Forum
Monday, February 5th, 6PM-8PM, 6001 Germantown Avenue (also Virtual)
Join our allies as First United Methodist Church of Germantown hosts an Educational Equity Forum to shine a spotlight on the inequitable manner in which the state's largest public school system is treated by elected officials in other parts of the state, some of whom are actively attempting to privatize our public education.
What can be done? Listen as Councilmember Kendra Brooks, "Designed to Fail" author, Dr. Roseann Liu, and other experts answer questions like, What happens in Harrisburg when policy decisions about school funding are being made? What can we do to effect change, so that funds are distributed more equitably? What can we do to support classroom teachers, students, and families?
The event is free, but space is limited, so click the link below to save your seat, get the link or learn more.
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Ward 22 "Rally for Democracy"
Thursday, February 8th, 7PM-9PM, 6950 Germantown Avenue
Our friends from the Ward 22 Open Wards Caucus will be holding a Voter Engagement Rally for Democracy at the New Courtland Conference Center, Auten Hall, on the Germantown Home campus, located at 6950 Germantown Avenue. You'll hear from elected officials and learn about plans to increase the 2024 voter turnout in Mt Airy.
Nine out of 10 Philadelphians are registered to vote, but voter turnout has declined from a high of 66% in 2020 to 31% in the 2023 General election. Our members and allies in the Ward 22 Open Wards Caucus want to reverse this trend as we prepare for the 2024 Presidential election. Remember, this year our democracy is on the ballot.
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PNN is Hiring!
We are looking for a Community Engagement Specialist to lead immersive work in low-engagement neighborhoods. The Specialist will work as an independent contractor reporting to the organizing director and executive committee.
The Specialist will be tasked with building a series of self-sustaining neighborhood activist groups that can be counted upon to regularly participate in the affairs of government and community. Our target demographic lives in struggling neighborhoods in North and NW Philly that contain chronically low-engagement voters and are often last to receive resources.
Our goal is to build trust within these communities that can be measured by increased community activism, increased voter registration and voter turnout by November 2024.
For details on this position, click below.
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"Make Bribery Illegal" Rally on PA State Capitol Steps
Tuesday, February 6th, 11AM, 501 N. 3rd Street, Harrisburg
Join our friends March on Harrisburg to stand up to corruption of our legislators by well-heeled corporate lobbyists. Right now, there is no limit to the amount or kind of "gifts" that PA legislators can accept - paid-for family trips and political junkets, free home repairs, lavish meals, and cash - as long as the legislators fill out a form declaring it.
We think this is open bribery, and MOH and allies were able to get Gift Ban legislation through the PA House. But that expired last term and now we have to start again by calling for the passage of HB 484, the Gift Ban Bill.
As the legislature continues to stall the Gift Ban, we must pressure them to pass the Gift Ban and Make Bribery Illegal in Pennsylvania. Click the link below to join us.
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Ask Congress to Increase Affordable Housing
State and local governments and the communities they serve rely on federal resources to meet the housing, homelessness, and community development needs of their communities. However, Congress has underfunded these resources for decades, and now House Republicans are threatening to impose austere spending cuts to non-defense programs.
Urge your members of Congress to fund housing and homelessness programs at the highest level possible in 2024. Click the link below for details and to send a letter.
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This Week in History
Feb 2, 1887 – First Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil made his debut on this day at Gobbler's Knob, PA. An imagining of German settlers, this tradition has become a fun prediction of the coming weather. This year, Phil predicts an early spring!
Feb 5, 1994 – Justice Delayed. More than 30 years after committing this heinous act, the white supremacist murderer of civil rights leader Medgar Evers was convicted.
Feb 6, 1820 – Immigration Freedom. The first organized immigration of freed enslaved people to Africa from the United States departed New York harbor on a journey to Freetown, Sierra Leone, in West Africa.
Thanks for your activism!
Tim Brown, Organizing Director